How do desert ants know which way to go when walking backward?

January 20, 2017 --The ants go marching … backward. Desert ants forage alone, each carrying the snacks they find back to their nest. But sometimes the little insects find meals too massive to lift up in their jaws, and they have to drag their prize home, backward. Now researchers have an idea how the ants figure out where to go without looking where they're going. The little insects might combine visual memories with cues from the sky to follow the right path, even if they can't see it every step of the way.